To Be Spirited Away
by Metronome I Hear
Summary: When Naruto came home one day to find a strange man with yellow eyes eating Naruto's ramen in his living room, Naruto didn't think it would be anything but trouble. He was right, of course, but it was also the best thing that could have happened to him. Because Nura Rihan spirits Naruto away, and Naruto learns what it means to be human.
1. MY RAMEN!

Naruto ran into his apartment after coming home from his first day at the Academy. It had gone horribly, his first day that was. The teachers seemed to hate him on sight and all his peers were arrogant jerks. Sasuke especially. Naruto scowled at the thought of the Uchiha, although it came out more as a pout. He was going to beat that arrogant mug one day, Dattebayo! That would show him! And it might get him some respect too!

He opened his door and took off his shoes before stepping inside his small apartment. Then he froze.

There was a man sitting at his table eating his ramen.

Naruto's first thought upon seeing this was: _His hair looks sooo weird._

And it did, at least to Naruto it did. Most of it was stuck out in the back, defying gravity in ways that even Naruto, who was only six years old, hadn't thought possible according to the realms of physics. What little of the inky black hair that didn't sort of float behind the man was tucked into a messy ponytail at the back of the man's neck.

Naruto's second thought upon seeing the man was: _Wait…. He's eating my ramen!_

Upon seeing this, Naruto dropped the bag that was carrying his school issued ninja scrolls and screamed.

"MY RAMEN!"

The man chose then to look up, setting the yellowest pair of eyes Naruto had ever seen upon him, and smirked. Mid bite even. The man then slurped up the rest of the noodles he was eating and set his chopsticks down. He raised one of his hands and, in a way that would make Hatake Kakashi proud, said very oh so calmly and casually, "Yo."

Naruto stared in disbelief. Here was a man, a very strange looking man at that, was casually eating his ramen in his living room.

"But! Tha- That's my-!"

"Your ramen?" The man said, looking amused, "Why yes. It is your ramen."

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

 **AN: This is the result of me being unable to find good crossovers with Nurarihyon no Mago and Naruto. It is also because I think Rihan needs more love. The chapters will probably be short. They may get longer in the future. Explanations for how Rihan is in the Naruto Universe will come soon enough, so do be patient. Thanks for reading, I do hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Arrival

Wandering was something that Rihan was good at. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to drift wherever one wished to go. It was something that that he had often done to escape from paperwork and the liveliness of the Nura-gumi main house, much to the frustration of his retainers. Kubinashi especially had the habit of panicking every time he went missing, much to Rihan's amusement.

Wandering was something he knew. It was familiar to him, even in the strange land that he had woken up in. So he wandered and did as he had often done before.

This new place was weird. The technology seemed backwards. They had showers and sinks and refrigerators like in modern day, but cars and telephones and the like seemed non-existent. And that wasn't even mentioning the people.

Many of them didn't dress like he had gotten used to people dressing. They didn't wear T-shirts and jeans and sneakers. They didn't wear short skirts and tank tops. At least, most of them didn't. Many of them wore the clothing of Rihan's childhood. Kimonos and yukatas and haoris and hakamas. It made it almost unnecessary to use his Fear to keep himself invisible to prying eyes, were it not for his obviously inhuman hair and eyes. As it was, it made it so that he could easily walk around in his human form and be unnoticed.

And then there were shinobi.

It was amazing to watch them. They were so in control of their own energy, and they could do feats that he had thought only mononoke would be able to do. They could leap from tree to tree with ease, control water as if they were kappa, use the winds in attacks like kamaitachi, and heal almost as well as his mother had been in life.

He had thought that only onmyouji would be able to fight yokai.

That was apparently not the case in this world.

And it fascinated him in a way, because it made the lines between human and demon blur together and mesh until it was difficult to tell what was human and what wasn't.

It also made it so that Rihan's abilities would blend in perfectly.

So Rihan wandered. He wandered and watched and waited and went. And it was fun. It was challenging and exciting, not unlike the days of Edo during the Tokugawa reign when yokai ran wild and there wasn't a human alive that didn't believe in them. As much as he had enjoyed the peaceful lull of modern day, his yokai blood had always run hot at the thought of battle.

Such was the life of a yokai.

And with no conceivable way home, he got used to the idea of living in this world, at least temporarily. His clan would, in all likelihood, not be coming to get him. They probably believed him dead, killed by the sword that small girl, the one who had so resembled Yamabuki, had stabbed through him.

So he would wander. And he would live.

 **AN: Here is Rihan's beginning in the Naruto verse. No explanation for how he arrived just yet. Just the vague 'he was killed and woke up here' for now. I also wanted to say that I will be including as much about yokai and the like as I can in this story. As stated in the summery, this fic is going to be a lot about what it means to be human. As such I will be using a lot of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. I will be putting translations and explanations and the like down here in the AN. Please feel free to let me know if I get anything wrong with these translations.**

 **Gumi -** From my understanding, this generally refers to a group, typically Yakuza. I could be wrong though, as this particular information was gathered from fanfiction rather than official sources.

 **Kimono -** A sort of robe commonly made with silk. It is worn by both men and woman, although with different designs. The type of kimono that a woman chooses to wear can often give insight to things like age, martial statues, and wealth.

 **Yukata -** Commonly considered a more casual type of Kimono. Often worn after taking a bath, but used in other situations as well.

 **Haori -** A half-length coat worn over a kimono.

 **Hakama -** A pleated skirt. Traditionally worn by men, but now worn by both genders.

 **Mononoke -** translates to 'unexplainable thing'. It generally refers to the supernatural. I will be using it as an umbrella term for all things supernatural, from Kami to Bijuu to Yokai.


	3. A Son

Naruto walked into his apartment, taking off his shoes at the doorway as per usual, and sighed at the sight of Rihan sitting in his apartment livingroom. It had been a week since their first encounter, and Naruto was getting used to seeing the strange man lounging on his couch as if he belonged there. At least he wasn't eating his ramen anymore. No, now he was eating things that he had stolen from the various other houses and stores around here.

"I'm back."

"Welcome back, Naruto," The man said, not looking up from his dango.

Naruto pouted at Rihan, "Why are you still here, dattebayo? Can't you go bother the Uchiha or sumthin'?"

Rihan put the last of the treat in his mouth and looked over at Naruto, "Why would I do that?"

"I dunno. Why do ya' bother me so much?"

Rihan blinked at him, looking vaguely surprised, then tilted his head a bit to one side, "I suppose it's because you remind me of my son."

"You have a son?"

Rihan nodded, gaining a distant sort of look in his eyes, "I do…."

Naruto waited for Rihan to elaborate, but when the man didn't he decided that it must be something too personal and left it alone. Then he grinned, "Hey! Guess what happened today at the academy!"

"And what happened at the academy?" Rihan asked, indulging the little orphan boy that was practically bouncing with excitement in from of him.

"We were showed the academy katas! I'm gonna be the best at them, dattebayo!"

"Ho? Why don't you show me, then?"

Naruto nodded, " 'Kay!"

 **AN: Someone asked me if Rihan was going to stay with Naruto and raise him in Konoha or if the two of them are going to leave. The title of this story is 'To Be Spirited Away'. They're leaving. You haven't been spirited away if you haven't left.**


	4. Not Human

"You're not human are 'ya?"

Rihan smiled at Naruto, "I'm not."

Naruto shifted from where he sat next to Rihan beneath one of the trees in the park, "Then what are 'ya? If you're not human."

Rihan leaned back against the trunk of the tree, the hair that fell in his eyes shifting as he did so, "Well… Have you ever heard of yokai?"

"Yokai?" Naruto scrunched up his nose and narrowed his eyes in confusion, "Nope. What are they?"

"Thats difficult to explain… Yokai are spirits. There are all sorts of different kinds. Everything from objects that have gained life, animals with magic powers, and ghosts. Where I come from, yokai are considered creatures of Yami. Yokai are black, while humans are white. My father was a yokai called Nurarihyon, and my mother was human. So I'm both and neither."

"Ehh…" Naruto looked down and fidgeted where he sat, before asking another question, "Where yokai treated nice where yer' from?"

"Not really. Yokai are considered evil. Yokai do bad things. They kill, rape, and play mean tricks. That's what most humans think. And they're right, partially so at least."

"Did the villagers where yer' from treat ya' alright?"

Rihan nodded, "They did. Because they didn't know I wasn't entirely human. But when I wasn't human to them, they feared me instead. That's how it is for most hanyo."

Naruto looked down at his lap, clenching his fists in the grass and frowning, "Feared, huh?"

 **AN: Another chapter here. I have some more done than this already, and I'll be posting it a bit later. The chapters are probably going to start getting out of order. Ideas for this come in flashes, and often times they aren't all in order. I'll write something and come up with something that happens before it just a bit later. Just a warning. I also changed the humor tag to friendship, because none of the stuff I've come up with recently is very humorous.**

 **Yami -** A term that describes a person or thing that's related to darkness or evil


	5. Eat and Run

Naruto looked down at the meager amount of money that he had in his hands. He was running low on funds after spending a lot of it on pranking supplies, and he didn't know if he had enough to buy dinner tonight. He would be getting more allowance the next day, but he didn't really want to wait that long to get enough to pay for another meal.

"Problem, Naruto?"

Naruto startled and turned to look at Rihan, who had seemingly appeared from nowhere behind him.

"Damn it, Rihan! Don' do stuff like that!" Naruto said indignantly, putting a hand to his chest where his heart was as if he was calming it.

Rihan let out a soft laugh, amusement twinkling in his golden colored eyes, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Naruto~. I'm a yokai after all, and it's in my nature to play tricks."

Naruto scowled, or at least attempted to. It didn't really work since he still had a 6 year old's face. "Which is why I don' understan' why you won' help me out with prankin'."

"Because if I helped you out, it would get far too easy for you to finish pranks. I'll give tips if you need them, but beyond that you're on your own. Naruto, What were you frowning about?"

Naruto glanced down at the coins in his hand, "I dun know if I have enough for some ramen. And I know Teuchi-ji 'll waive the payment, but he does that so often and I don' really wanna make 'im do that so much."

Rihan hummed and seemed to think for a moment. Then he smirked and held out a hand, "How about I take you out for a meal, then? I know a good dango shop."

Naruto looked up, appearing startled, "Really? You'd do that?"

Rihan nodded, "I would. You're a friend, Naruto. Friends help each other."

Naruto's face lit up and he grinned his usual fox like grin. He took Rihan's hand and the two left to eat and run at the dango stand.


	6. You're Weird

Naruto sat on his bed and sniffled. He brought his knees to his chest and hid his face on top of them. It wasn't fair. It was never fair when it came to him, and Naruto had never understood why that was. He tried his best, dattebayo! He tried so hard but all the odds seemed stacked against him and it was just so difficult at times to keep moving forward.

"Naruto?"

Naruto looked up to see Rihan standing next to his bed, a concerned look in his gaze and one hand resting in the folds of his kimono.

"Whatta ya' want?" Naruto mumbled, his voice muffled by his jumpsuit.

Rihan ignored the question and instead asked one of his own, "What happened?"

"Nothin'. Jus' some jerk at the festival. I wanted a mask an' tried to take it down. But when the stand keeper saw me he got really mad an' threw the mask at me."

Rihan sighed in a quiet, resigned manner before sitting down on the bed, "Are you alright?"

Naruto shook his head, "Na' ah. I'm tired, Rihan. People don' like me much and I get kinda scared som' times. No matta' what I do nobody's ever nice ta' me. 'Cept you, but you're weird."

Rihan's lips twitched upwards into a smirk, "I'm weird, hm?"

They sat there in silence for a while, Naruto clutching his knees to his chest and Rihan sitting on the bed, staring off into the distance.

 **AN: I want people to know that there will be no bashing in this. It will seem** ** _kind of_** **like there is at times, but that's more because of perspective than anything else. Naruto is young and tends to exaggerate** **things both because of that and because of his personality. Rihan has an outsiders POV, and different values than many people from the Naruto verse. So if it seems like there is bashing, there isn't.**


	7. Leaving

"Could you repeat that?"

"I'm going to spirit you away."

Naruto stared blankly at the strange not-quite-human man standing in front of him, "Why?"

Rihan smiled at him, "Because I want to show you what it means to be free. Free from hatred, free from rules, free from village walls. I'll admit, this is usually something a tengu would do, but I like you, kid. So I'll make an exception. Will you come with me?"

Naruto fidgeted under Rihan's intense gaze, "If I say no, are 'ya gonna leave withou' me?"

Rihan tilted his head to one side and stayed silent for a moment before finally nodding, "I will. I dislike staying in one place for so long. Not when it doesn't feel like home."

Naruto nodded, and then stayed silent. Rihan waited patiently for the boy's answer, not moving from where he quietly stood.

"I'll go."

Rihan smiled and held out his hand for Naruto to take, "It'll change your entire life."

"I know."

"We might not come back."

"I know."

"You can't be Hokage if you go."

Naruto paused, looking frightened for a moment. Then Naruto's lips spread out into a thin line and he gained a determined look on his face, "I'll go. Spirit me away, Rihan."

Naruto took Rihan's hand, and the two of them disappeared into the black shadows of Rihan's Fear.

 **Usually something a tengu would do -** My research has told me that the term 'spirited away' was coined for instances where people would disappear for a while and then reappear in odd places, such as high up in trees or in attics. This instances were usually attributed to tengu.


	8. Ingenuity

"Wooaaah!" Naruto looked amazed as he looked out over the capital of Fire Country. It was quite the sight to see, with all sorts of buildings spreading out almost as far as the eye could see. There was a market place bustling with people buying fresh foods, a shopping district with people laughing with one another and browsing the selections, a park that was filled with flowers in full bloom, a school with children walking to and fro and playing in the yard. It was vast, it was colorful, it was beautiful in a way. And it was alive.

"This is sooo cooool!" Naruto started laughing as he leaned out against the railing of the observation deck.

From next to him, Rihan smiled, "It is, isn't it? It reminds me a bit of home, even if home was bigger and busier than this."

"No way! There's no way somethin' could be bigger than this!"

Rihan laughed, "Ah, but you underestimate the power of human ingenuity! To be human is to expand, to create, to become something amazing."

Naruto grinned, "I guess so! Humans are kinda awesome like that, aren't they?"

Rihan nodded, "Indeed they are."


	9. One Hundred

"Hyakkiyako? " Naruto questioned as he walked down the dirt path to the next village.

Rihan hummed and nodded from where he walked next to Naruto, "Yes. Hyakkiyako. It means 'Night Parade of One Hundred Demons'. My father made one and lead it for centuries. I inherited his parade and lead it for a long time as well."

"Demons?" Naruto scrunched up his nose, "Does that mean the parade is evil?"

Rihan smirked in amusement, "In some cases, yes. But not always. There were many Yokai and Ayakashi in my and my father's Hyakkiyako that were evil, but there were yokai that were just the opposite. There are good spirits out there, created by hopeful wishes and living by protecting others. I know many such Yokai."

"Like who?"

"Hmm… One of my strike team leaders was called Kurotabo. He was an ayakashi created from the stories of children during a war. They spoke of an assassin dressed in monk's robes that would always come to protect them, to save them. It was from the spreading of this tale that Kurotabo was created."

Naruto frowned a bit and tilted his head a bit to one side, "He was born from a story?"

Rihan nodded, "He was. And he wasn't the only one. A long while back there was a popular game of sorts that often created Yokai. It was called Hyaku-monogatari. They gathered a hundred Samurai in a room and had each one tell a story about an encounter with the supernatural. After each story was told, a candle was blown out. After the hundreth tale was told, a yokai would be created. It was quite a problem for my clan for a while. It was difficult to stop the ayakashi clan responsible for such gatherings, even if my clan and I managed in the end. It was how I met Kurotabo, you know. He was tricked into working for the Hundred Tales Clan at the time as an assassin and was sent to kill me. He couldn't, of course."

"Eh…."

 **AN:**

 **Ayakashi -** I often see it used as just another word for yokai and the supernatural. In this fic I will be using it as a term describing yokai with human like appearances such as Nurarihyon, Gyuuki, Kubinashi, Kurotabo, and the like

 **Hyaku-monogatari -** This is an event that was often practiced durring the edo period. It was for this practice that the Hundred Tales clan from the manga was named.


	10. Attacker

Naruto yelled out in shock when a ninja leapt forward and sliced Rihan straight in half with their blade. But he really shouldn't have worried, because the image where Rihan had been standing did nothing but waver, the point where the blade had struck disappearing into black flame like shadows. The image then dissolved, leaving the ninja confused and wary. But before the ninja could so anything, he was struck with the dull edge of the blade Rihan always carried around and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" Rihan asked

Naruto nodded, a bit stunned, then he seemed to shake himself out of his stooper and was suddenly bouncing up and down, "That was sooo cooool! Teach me how to do that!"

And Rihan laughed.

"Hey! What's so funny?!"  
"Nothing, nothing~"

 **AN: I've run out of things that I've pre-written and new ideas aren't so forth coming** **anymore. New chapters will probably** **slow down for a while.**


	11. New Clothes

"Damn it!"

Naruto scowled at his jacket, looking at the huge tear in the bright orange fabric.

Rihan looked at it too, "Ohh…" Rihan sighed, "I don't think I can do much to save that. I might have _some_ skills in sewing but that's beyond my ability. We'll have to get you something new."

Naruto pouted, "But this is my favorite jacket!"

"I know, I know," Rihan conceded, "But it was getting worn down anyways. It would have been time to get you something new soon anyways. And by the looks of it, your pants could use replacing too. You've been growing quite a bit recently…"

And the pants did need replacing. They were a bit too short now, an inch or two above where they should be resting. They were getting pretty scruffy as well, with all the little rips and tears that came from travel that had been repared. It didn't look the prettiest anymore.

Rihan rubbed his head and closed one of his eyes, pondering how much it would cost to get Naruto a new set of clothing. Deeming that he had enough, or failing that they could just steal it, he came to a decision.

"Naruto. How about we head to a nearby clothing store and get you some new clothes?"

Naruto brightened up and grinned, "Can we?!"

Rihan nodded, giving a rather fond smile at Naruto's seemingly never ending enthusiasm, "We can. I'll let you pick out whatever you like. You can even pick out everything in orange if they have the color."

"Awesome!"

It was only a little while later that Naruto and Rihan walked out of a clothing store, Naruto wearing an entirely new set of clothes. And if Rihan was smiling, then it had nothing to do with the fact that Naruto had chosen clothing reminiscent of Rihan's own outfit, color scheme and burnt orange haori aside.


	12. Working Conditions

"This is horrible…"

Rihan stared stoically out at the scene before the two of them, even as Naruto wore a face of horror.

People were working. They were carrying heavy rocks and shoveling dirt. They barely wore anything and were covered in dust and scratches. Most of them looked half exhausted. And watching them were people in some kind of uniform, the whole lot of them looking stern and some of them cruel.

The men who stopped working were whipped by the guards, abused until they were shaking messes upon the floor. The others were forced to continue onwards, ignoring their fallen friends.

"It is," Rihan agreed with a tired sounding sigh, "But Naruto, what you have to understand is that this is a part of being human too."

Naruto looked up at Rihan, a panicked look on his face, " _This_? Part of being _human_? How can they be human when they are so cruel?! It's worse than the village! Its horrible!"

Rihan shook his head, "It is horrible. And there are worse things out there that are happening than this. There are very bad people in the world, and many of them are human. Some of them enjoy being cruel. Some of them have a hatred that burns in their hearts that causes them to act this way. Some of them do this because of greed. Some of them just want to watch the world burn. But it's still human. Humanity is not a pretty thing, Naruto. Never have I ever led you to believe that. It can be wonderful at times, it can create beauty of the likes that Yokai might never be able to match, but humanity can also be like this."

Rihan turned to meet Naruto's gaze, "That's part of what it means to be human, Naruto. Neither black nor white, only ever grey."

 **AN: So... It's been a while. How have you been? I've been struggling with updating this. Finding inspiration for this is like pulling teeth. I do have a young drabbles that I wrote up today (like two or three?) and I have a couple prompts lined up, so things _should_ get better soon. Still, I'd like you to know that I'm accepting prompts for this story to help it along. If you have any requests for scenes then feel free to let me know. **


	13. Welcome to Hell

The working conditions of the construction site Rihan and Naruto has passed by earlier that day weighed heavily on Naruto's mind that night when they camped. It kept going through his mind, the images of the people working, their backs breaking and their skin covered in wounds.

He sat up suddenly from where he lay next to the fire, determination lining his face. "Rihan?"

"Hm?" Rihan hummed from where he lounged in a tree-one eye closed, hands behind his head, and one leg crossed over the other. He looked to be the picture of laziness, especially so with the way he responded to Naruto's voice.

"I'm going to go raise hell at the construction site." Naruto stood up and brushed his kimono of any lingering dirt. He then went about gathering his supplies-consisting of kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, and various types of small explosives. "Follow me if you want too, but you can't stop me."

Rihan stayed quiet for a moment before he started laughing. He sat up on his branch and smiled widely down at Naruto, a familiar gleam of mischief in his eyes. "Come now, Naruto, do you honestly believe that I wouldn't want to help you? What sort of yokai would I be if I didn't help you raise a little hell?"

Naruto blinked up at Rihan, eyes going wide for a moment, before he grinned and laughed as well, "Then what're you waiting for, old man? Let's go!"

The overseers of the construction site never saw them coming.


	14. Training

"Move your foot a little further back, yes that's it. Then keep that stance."

Naruto nodded and swung the katana downwards. He continued to so, attempting to mimic the moves Rihan had shown him before. They hadn't been at this for long, and Naruto was in no way proficient with the weapon just yet, but Naruto was excited Rihan was finally teaching him how to wield a sword like he did.

A hand touched his back in the area between his shoulder blades. "Relax your muscles, Naruto. Keep them loose. If you don't, then it will only be harder to react in battle. Keep your wits about you."

"Right!" Naruto said as he attempted to follow the instructions. It was difficult to do so, as it seemed his body tensed up automatically when he thought about a battle situation, but he tried his best anyways.

"That's better. Keep practicing, Naruto. You'll be better in no time." Rihan smiled at him, golden eyes alight as he watched his student. Naruto had gotten much better since they had started traveling together, and Rihan was proud of him for that. His only real regret was that he hadn't thought to grab some scrolls on chakra manipulation before he had left the leaf village. The ones that Naruto had gotten from the academy were enough to introduce the basics, but not much more than that. They also only had instructions on how to perform three jutsus, which left frustratingly little else to learn.

 _Oh well_ , Rihan mused, _I suppose that I'll just have to steal some the next time they passed through a shinobi village._

Until then, they would just have to make due.


	15. Honorary Yokai

"What is this stuff?" Naruto asked, looking down at the cup Rihan had handed him. It looked similar to water, but the smell was wrong. It reminded him of the drunks that he sometimes ran into when he wandered into the red light district.

"That-" Rihan pointed at the cup- "is sake. To celebrate your 13th birthday, you get to drink your first cup."

Naruto blinked owlishly at the cup. "Sake?" He questioned, "But you've never let me have sake before now. So why?"

"Because you're finally turning 13, Naruto. 13 is the Yokai age of majority. This means that to a yokai, you're an adult."

"But I'm not a yokai…"

Rihan smiled at him and spoke, "Naruto. You are human through and through, but that doesn't mean that I don't consider you to be a member of my parade. If anyone asks, then you're an honorary yokai. You certainly have the pranking skills for it."

Naruto blinked again and looked up at Rihan, shock written all over his face. "An honorary yokai?"

Rihan laughed a bit and nodded. "An honorary yokai. So, Mister Honorary Yokai, are you going to drink that sake or not?"

Naruto grinned and drank the sake.

Extra:

"Yuck! This tastes awful! Wait, Rihan? Why're you laughing?! Rihan!"

 **AN: I have no idea what Sake actually tastes like. I've been told it's sweet, but I have no idea myself. Also, allow me to remind you these are posted waaay out of order. I'm writing as inspiration strikes, and that inspiration doesn't always come in order.**


	16. Nightmares

It was dark. Things shifted just outside of his vision and Naruto could feel icy cold fear flow through his veins. He ran as fast as he could, panic swelling up from the depths of his mind and he couldn't _breathe_ -

"Demon!" the voices shouted in unison, "Monster! Murderer! Betrayer!"

"No!" Naruto yelled back at them, tears gathering in his eyes, "I'm not! I'm not I'm not I'm not!"

There was a monstrous roar that echoed through Naruto, through his bones and reverberating through his very being. It shook him to the core far more than the faceless voices ever could and left him breathless.

He opened his eyes- _when did I closed them?_ -and found himself standing above Konoha, looking down at all the tiny people running from his claws- _but I don't have claws_ -and screaming when his tails smashed into buildings- _tails? Why do I have tails?_ -letting rubble fall onto their falling forms. They mourned over their dead and gazed at him with hateful eyes.

He hated this.

" _Naruto!_ "

Naruto sat straight up in bed, eyes wild and darting back and forth as he searched for the source of the voice. He only calmed down when he spotted the face of Rihan, barely visible in the early morning light. The man looked concerned and held both of his hands out towards Naruto, looking as if he wanted to touch Naruto but was afraid to startle him.

"Rihan?" Naruto mumbled, not quite believing he was awake. "Is that really you?"

Rihan finally closed the distance and pulled Naruto into a hug. "It's okay, Naruto. I'm here. It was just a dream."

Naruto nodded mutely and clung to Rihan's stripped green kimono, fingers curling in the fabric. He buried his head in Rihan's shoulder and relaxed when Rihan's arms tightened their grip around him. Slowly, but surely, the dream slipped away like smoke in the early morning wind.


End file.
